1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communications, and in particular, to wireless communication systems that select base stations for antennas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wireless communication systems have base stations that exchange wireless communications with user antennas. The base stations have differing capacities over time for wireless communications. Some base stations are heavily loaded during the day and lightly loaded in the evening. Other base stations are lightly loaded during the day and heavily loaded in the evening. Some base stations are always heavily loaded, while other base stations are always lightly loaded.
The user antennas may be omni-directional or uni-directional. The omni-directional antennas are convenient because they do not need to be pointed at a base station, but they typically have a smaller range and attempt to communicate with the closest base station—even if it is overloaded. The uni-directional antennas have a greater range, but they must be pointed at a base station, so a base station must be selected for the uni-directional antenna. Because of their greater range, uni-directional antennas may have a choice of potential base stations to use.
Users often have an expectation of when they will use wireless communications the most. One user may use wireless communications for work during the day, while another user may use wireless communication for leisure in the evening. Unfortunately, there is not an effective system that selects the proper base stations for user antennas based on user timeframes and base station capacities over time.